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Los Meses Flacos - The Thin Months -
6/22/2011
Posted By:
Steve Hawthorne
Every month here at Stone Creek, we have a company financial review. All of our store managers and other company leaders get together and review the financial health of the business. We also incorporate some coffee education. Last month I showed a short film called After the Harvest - Fighting Hunger in the Coffeelands.
After the Harvest is a brief documentary about a phenomenon that occurs each year in coffee producing countries around the world. In Central America, it is known as "los meses flacos," or "the thin months." Through much of Central America, the coffee harvest begins in November and ends in late February. By May, many families (whose primary source of income is coffee) will have depleted their harvest money. This also happens to come at a time when basic food prices are the highest of the year, due to the fact that many food crops won't be harvested until the fall. This leaves families with very few options:
1. Grow their own food - while this would seem to be the answer, growing their own food would mean that they would have to remove some coffee trees to make room. Removing coffee trees will ultimately decrease their income.
2. Eat less food
3. Eat less expensive (and less healthy) food
4. Borrow money (and go into debt) to buy food
As you can see, none of these are great options. It is also unfortunate, that this is something that we, as coffee roasters, don't often see since the thin months come after the harvest is complete (and after we typically visit for the year).
My intention in showing this video to our company leaders was to bring some additional awareness to the issue and to remind all of us that sometimes, just paying a higher price isn't enough. We have to continue to live with an awareness of issues like this happening around the world and strive to understand where we can make an impact. Our company was founded on the idea that a business has an obligation to support the community that allows it to be successful. While this certainly applies to supporting our local communities, it also applies to the global communities that are producing the product that is the basis for our business.
We are working every day to improve our company, our product and our service so that we grow in many ways - including revenues and profits. We are not, however, just trying to line our own pockets. We are working so that we can continue to grow our support for the people in our company, in our local community AND the people that work tirelessly to produce incredible coffees that we can share with our customers.
I would encourage you to visit www.aftertheharvest.org, where you can watch the documentary in its entirety and learn more about how you can personally support efforts to fight hunger in the coffeelands. While it is quite easy for us to wake up in the morning, scramble some eggs and brew a delicious cup of coffee, it's important to remember that the person that picked that coffee might not be so fortunate. Please keep them in mind.
Sip slowly.
-Steve
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